Little Accidents

In a small American town still living in the shadow of a terrible coal mine accident, the disappearance of a teenage boy draws together a surviving miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive, and a local boy in a web of secrets.

This is my first and last Sara Colangelo film. I supposed she could win an award in some vague artsy category, but despite a timely topic, good acting (often blunted by her direction) and a compelling story, she managed to turn this into a moody, anti-dramatic, slow art piece. The cinematography was great, just used poorly--overdone and too long pieces to set the mood--but we were already pretty sure it was a sad movie since 9 miners died and then a 15 year old dies, and one 13 year old carries both burdens (dead father and murderer) along with trying to help his drunk mother and Downs syndrome little brother. Could have been SO good!

Quotes

A miner: We're waiting to hear what you're gonna say … You ain't gonna put us out of work, are you? You know we're a dying breed.

Amos: I just remember … I remember being carried. Carried up, and seeing that light again. Like the air came back into me, like … breathe easy again. (All in town and the audiences were able to breathe easy again after thee final couple of scenes.)